Times Three (and a Half)
by ZuanTheGreat
Summary: Sakura's a mad scientist (and a psychopath), Sasuke's the older brother of a traumatized toddler, and Naruto's genderfluid. So, it's only a little different.
1. Three's Company

**Sakura**

Sakura is fragile. Fragile, but intelligent. Intelligent, but petty.

This is what her parents are told every grading period. A future paper pusher. Not anyone to look out for. And her parents are relieved.

They were against her training as a shinobi, but without a family business to push her into, they didn't have a choice. She would be a shinobi or she would be nothing at all.

But that pettiness didn't mean weakness, it just means that she can be colder. Crueler. And that intelligence, that one redeeming trait, only adds to it.

She reads her first anatomy textbook at age 6. She lets her parents think it was because it had pictures. But she traces diagrams and whispers names of arteries and veins until they stick in her head. She likes knowing things.

Knowledge for knowledge's sake.

In her spare time, she reads scientific journals and medical texts. Her diary turns from fawning about Sasuke-kun to musing about potential applications of using genetic engineering to help repair damaged chakra systems. But it still has talk of Sasuke in it, because being intelligent and knowing things doesn't invalidate her having a crush.

The librarians at the Konoha Shinobi Library (not the public one, she moved on from that years ago) know her well. They give her sly smiles when she walks up to the counter with books from the sections restricted to chunin and jounin, but say nothing. They look after their own in a place where genius often ends up synonymous with traitor.

Geniuses are looked upon with suspicion, especially those not backed by a clan, and Sakura has no such advantages.

But it is in these restricted sections that she learns her first genjutsu.

It's a simple technique, one that can be used to camouflage one's scent, invoke emotions through changes in scent, or hide the telltale signs of, say, poison.

It's a good start. Not much chakra, more control, but it could be devastating if applied properly. Just like her.

Not much changes at the academy. A simple illusory genjutsu keeps people from noticing the titles of high ranked techniques, and not many people would bother looking too hard at a little girl's books anyway.

She looks into other scientists, both famous and infamous, just once. Once is all she needs to figure something out. All scientists experiment, but the "good" ones never have that mentioned. And the "bad" ones are just the ones that experimented and got caught.

So all she has to do is not get caught.

A good part of having the head of T&I's daughter as a best friend/rival/frenemy is that she's good at not getting caught, and she knows what it looks like when someone is catching onto something.

Also, free access to the intricacies of the Yamanaka's mind walking techniques.

But Ino isn't always there.

The longer their rivalry goes on, the less Ino hangs around her, and the more Ami and her weak excuse for a gang try to bully her.

Sakura starts ignoring her bullies after a while. She stops reacting to their taunts and instead buries her head back into whatever ridiculous tome she was reading. She grows quiet, still. And there is no longer anyone to notice her, no longer a little blonde girl to chase away bullies that have long since gotten bored. The voice inside her head grows louder, but that's fine. She's gotten used to ignoring loud voices.

Sakura stops wearing the ribbon Ino gave her, instead just tying her hair back in a loose braid.

Most of her time is spent in the library or sequestered away in her room, where she's smuggled in all sorts of chemicals for her experiments. It's easy for her to hide things from her parents, especially because they don't bother looking into anything she does. Her experiments started small, following along with her books, but she wants more.

She knocks one of the frogs set loose upon the classroom from one of Kiba and Naruto's pranks into her bag and performs her first dissection that night.

She sticks a razor blade on the end of a pencil for a scalpel. She'll filch a few from the hospital for next time. Using a book she picked out at the library, Sakura picks out each organ that she can identify. Afterward, she has to dump the body in the river, but she nearly gets caught smuggling it out of her house.

That kickstarts her adventures into medical ninjutsu. She continues to dissect larger and larger animals, but now she has the ability to put them back together when she's done.

She doesn't get caught.

-:-  
 **Sasuke**

Itachi made a mistake that night. He was always too soft on children.

When he slaughtered the majority of the Uchiha compound, he made their deaths quick. And while that worked, while 27 children died that day for no other reason but the clan they were born to, one survived. Not uninjured, but alive.

The slice meant to go through her jugular didn't pierce through fully, instead slicing through more skin than important arteries or the trachea. And with other things to do, including killing his parents and traumatizing his brother, Itachi left without looking back.

When the team of ANBU came across her, it was only sheer luck that she survived even without her main arteries cut.

However, she made a full recovery with help from a healer, albeit with a nasty scar on her neck. She'd have it for the rest of her life.

At least the Uchiha tended to wear high collars. Or at least they did before they were massacred.

She was handed over to Sasuke when he woke up from his coma. He clung to her like a lifeline. The two of them, the last Uchihas in all of Konoha. With a little help from the ANBU that cleared out the house, Sasuke found out who she was.

Uchiha Kiyo, one year and 3 months old.

A distant relative, his third cousin once removed's daughter, making her his… fourth cousin?

In one life he wouldn't have ever met her, just another faceless corpse to swim through his nightmares. But Kiyo was real, and she was his.

One of the ANBU, a tall man with a dog mask, put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder when he asked about Itachi. Once the Hokage finished his explanation, the man leaned over and whispered in his ear.

"Don't try and go after him, he'll kill you, kid."

In another life, Sasuke would ignore the warning, but he wasn't alone this time. He had someone to look after, someone that needed him.

He looked down at Kiyo's tiny face. She scrunched her nose at him.

And so he swallowed every semblance of Uchiha pride he had left and took a parenting class.

Despite being advertised for civilians, there was a decent amount of kunoichi attending. Most were pregnant, but others just wanted help dealing with their unruly kids. They generally took to him as if he was a little brother or their child. But most importantly, they didn't look at him with pity in their eyes.

Sasuke had long grown tired of passing adults, his classmates, and everyone else staring at him and Kiyo. It took a long time for them to adjust to the sight of the last Uchiha, just barely seven years old, carrying a baby in a sling.

The women in the classes are different. Well, not all them, but a good deal of them know what he's dealing with. All shinobi experience loss, his is just more large scale than most.

Yamanaka Mina-san gives him discounts whenever she's running the shop, and weapons advice when she isn't.

Hannoruki-san was still recovering from giving birth to his daughter, Akane-chan, but he makes sure to stop by every once in a while with pastries or an offer to babysit Kiyo. Sasuke only takes him up on the offer when he has to, though. He hates being separated from her.

Ise-san brings him an obento every day before he gives in and asks her for cooking lessons. He'd be fine eating store-bought meals supplemented with tomatoes for the rest of his life, but Kiyo deserves better.

She's his imouto now, and if nothing else, he'll manage to be a better aniki to her than Itachi was.

 **Naruto**

It all started with a simple history lesson. One that Naruto decided _not_ to skip.

And to that lesson, he was ultimately indebted.

The lesson? Uzushiogakure. Once a shinobi village renowned for their fūinjutsu, so much so that they were destroyed for it.

It was a short lecture, just vague facts on the land and how the village came to be destroyed. But the moment Naruto heard the name Uzumaki in conjunction to Uzushio, he became obsessed.

The only hint he had to his deceased parents, the only connection to his culture that he could find, lay with Uzushio.

He had never made it into the library before, due to both a lack of interest in reading and getting kicked out if he tried, but this time he was determined.

He henged himself into someone bland, unobtrusive. A genin, brown eyes and hair, a little on the older side of being a teenager. One of the many who just barely passed, only to stay in the genin corps for the rest of their lives. Easily overlooked.

And with that, he was free to start his search.

Naruto wasn't so bad at stealth that he would go straight up to a librarian to ask about the overly specific topic that he wanted to research, which meant that he spent an hour in the library before finding Sakura.

As usual, she was sitting with a pile of books and scrolls around her. From what he could tell, it was mainly made up of science textbooks, ones that he couldn't even begin to try reading.

"Sakura-chan! It's me, Naruto!"

At this, she looked up.

"Naruto?" Her eyes sharpened, "Why are you in a henge?"

"Doesn't matter. Anyways, do you know where I'd find any books on Uzushio?"

"Uzushio... That would be in some of the older travel guides, maybe history books too. Aisle 939."

He shot a quick grin at her before running off to find aisle 939.

There wasn't much to find about Uzushio, but he managed to scrounge up a picture from an old textbook that included a depiction of the creation of both Konoha and Uzushio, and a couple of Senju Hashirama's wife, Uzumaki Mito.

In the first, the Uzumaki man wore a high collared, wide-sleeved shirt with spirals stitched into the upper arms, plate armor, and two swords of some sort strapped to his back.

The others pictures depicted a regal woman with red hair tied in two buns that had two tags with kanji on them hanging down. She wore an elegant high-collared white kimono with a turquoise obi.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all, and Naruto aimed to flatter his apparent ancestors. So he bought new clothes.

It didn't match the old man's exactly, but he managed to procure an orange, wide-sleeved shirt that he sewed two spiral patches into. Naruto also would have bought a white kimono and hakama in order to match Mito, but he wasn't going to be going anywhere fancy enough to wear that anytime soon. If ever.

The next time Naruto walked into class, he was met with some whispers about his new attire. Or just blatant questioning, in Kiba's case.

"Hey, what's with the new clothes?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, "I just kinda felt like a change, that's all."

Sakura side-eyed him when he sat down next to her. Not in a 'why are you here' way, more of a 'what's up with you' way.

"So the research paid off, huh."

Naruto just shot her one of his trademark grins and turned to grab the homework that he had actually done this time.

When he looked over, he saw that Sasuke was staring at him. Well, Kiyo-tan was too, but that might have just been because he was the only thing within her line of sight in the sling.

Naruto waved tentatively at them. Sasuke jerked his head up slightly. Kiyo-tan just kept staring.


	2. Three's A Crowd

**Sakura**

Sakura wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm, careful not to get any blood or various other bits on her face. It was far too hot to be doing anything that day, much less dissecting animals, but if she wanted to figure out if the replicated organs worked at all, she'd have to continue.

Well, she didn't have to finish that day, but it's so much more rewarding to complete a project entirely. With the squirrel all sewed up and… mostly functioning, she decided to go to the local park to take a break. And maybe to get a couple more test subjects.

Sakura peeled off her gloves and dumped them into a bag for her to dispose of later. She washed her hands to get rid of the slightly gummy feeling that the gloves gave her hands, and took the scrubs that she had found at a thrift store off, soaking them in cold water to keep the various bodily fluids from drying.

She noted down some of the observations that she had made in one of her many journals, coded of course. The case was specific to her own experiences, so hopefully, if she ended up turning rogue and fleeing the country, T&I wouldn't immediately know the details of her slightly morally dubious experiments. Most of the time she healed up the animals that she tested on, at least the large ones, but sometimes there were things to dispose of.

Done with the experiment, Sakura put the squirrel back in its cage and fixed herself up to look passable. She might not look like she had been dissecting squirrels, but she didn't exactly look good. She took a quick shower, spritzed enough perfume to cover up the smell, and tied her hair back in her normal loose braid. Following that, she threw on a tank top and some shorts, slinging a backpack around her shoulders.

She passed her mother in the kitchen on her way out of the house, who, as usual, barely noticed that she was there. Sighing to herself, Sakura grabbed a water bottle and then walked out the door.

"Bye," She halfheartedly called to her mother.

There was no response.

She squinted out into the bright sunlight and headed towards the park. There was a good deal of people out and about, taking advantage of the heat to have a day out.

It would be a bit of an inconvenience to try and snatch a squirrel out in broad daylight with so many people out, but discretion, knock out drugs, and a low-level genjutsu, she'd be fine.

But before she got on with her task, she stopped at a small stand selling ice cream. Keeping herself from overheating was just as important as cloned squirrel organs, at least in the immediate sense. If she passed out from heat stroke she would be just as incapable of continuing her experiment than she'd be if she didn't catch a squirrel.

Sakura bought some matcha ice cream and ate it while walking around before continuing on her task.

Squirrels were pretty common in the tree-filled Konoha, so it took very little work to find one, but quite a bit more to catch it.

Squirrels are both fast and small, and will bite if provoked. They can also escape through tiny holes, such as through her hand when Sakura tried grabbing one by its middle. Her best bet was the knock-out compound that she was working on, but it was a risk. It needed to go through quite a few trials before she slipped it to a squirrel, or like, a person.

But it was hot and tiring and at least five squirrels had already slipped from her grasp. The longer it went on, the more likely an adult would look a little harder into a child chasing squirrels, and the more she didn't care about potential ramifications of an untested chemical on her experiments.

Sakura shoved a rag with the chemical on it into a squirrel's face, and looking around surreptitiously, stuffed the tiny unconscious body in her bag.

Relieved to be done, Sakura straightened out her clothes and headed for the closest apothecary that didn't ask many questions.

 **Naruto**

Naruto sighed and picked his stuff off the curb. When he had been out at the library, his landlord had apparently decided to toss him out again. Old Man Hokage'd get him his apartment back eventually with liberal use of bribery, but he was out on his own for the next week or so. Maybe he could get a room at one of those sketchy hotels in the red light district again, but he'd rather not do that again.

His best hope was to get under a henge and hope that no one noticed him. Naruto turned into a nearby alleyway and prepared his persona. He picked a girl this time, not too far off from his own appearance. Tan skin, but darker blonde hair up in a spiky ponytail. She walked out more cheerfully than he had walked in, her cute sundress twirling around her legs.

Sometimes she liked being a girl more than being a guy. The clothes were so much more varied than the simple shirt and shorts combos that most guys wore. Or at least, most normal guys wore. She passed by a large man in a bright green jumpsuit, with a smaller version following behind.

The smaller green jumpsuited person stopped in front of her and bowed.

"Fair maiden! I am Rock Lee! Let's go out together! I will protect you until I die!"

Naruto blushed. She hadn't had many encounters of this sort, both because most of the village hated her and because normally people ignored her henged forms unless she wanted them to be noticeable.

"Ano… shouldn't you know my name before asking me something like that?

"Ah!" he blushed and quieted down a bit, "Sorry, I was blinded by your beauty. And what is your name?"

Naruto froze for a second. She couldn't use her actual name, as it was fairly well known, what with so many people hating her.

"My name is… Natsuko. Otoshi Natsuko."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Natsuko-chan!"

"And about the date… I'm not ready to date right now, but we could be friends?"

"Yosh! Would you like to meet up at the park on Sundays?"

"Sure!" she grinned. She'd never really had an actual friend, and even if Lee-san was probably only interested in her because she was a girl and not Uzumaki Naruto, she'd take what she could get.

Lee rushed off to catch up to the green-spandexed man he had been following earlier.

Naruto- well, Natsuko now, smiled at his retreating back and headed out.

She headed out towards the park, one of the few places she could stay and get some rest at without being yelled at for loitering. And if she had to, she could always sleep in one of the many trees there. It wasn't pleasant, but if you strapped yourself down you wouldn't fall during the night. All you really had to worry about was getting ants or something in your hair.

She settled on the swings for the time being, as they were one of the shadier areas, trees covering the majority of the surface area. Despite the shade, the metal chain links were still abnormally hot due to the weather, and not many wanted to risk burning their hands. The rope swings on the other end of the park were far more popular.

After a while of swinging in utter boredom, Natsuko got up and decided to do a bit of apartment hunting, getting up and heading for the red light district.

 **Sasuke**

Sasuke picked Kiyo up from her crib, bouncing her on his hip while he walked to the kitchen. Making breakfast was always a bit of a hassle in the morning, both due to having to carry Kiyo and due to trying to make food on a stovetop that was still a bit too high for him to see over very well.

He settled on a frittata of sorts, dumping any leftovers they had into a big pan and covering them with eggs before setting it in the oven.

Meals that didn't require much more than dumping ingredients in a pan were his specialty, as he couldn't really cook much else. He'd get better with time, but for the moment it was too much hassle to cook anything that would require him to move around the chair he used to stand on while cooking. So he was left with stir-fry, stews, and salads most of the time.

Having Kiyo didn't help much either, but he wasn't willing to put her down for long periods of time. It probably wasn't a healthy coping method, but it could have been worse. He could be suppressing all positive emotions in a fruitless quest to avenge his family by murdering his brother.

When the food finished, he cut out two slices and plated them up with some cherry tomatoes, halved with salt and pepper, as a side, and a sippy cup of milk for Kiyo. He had gotten lucky that his surviving relative liked tomatoes as much as he did, or else he'd be forced to find another vegetable alternative for Kiyo.

Having eaten the entire meal, Sasuke pulled on a high collared top and some white shorts. He put Kiyo in a dark blue onesie, with a collar high enough to hide the scar on her throat.

Kiyo was old enough to start walking, but she still wasn't very good at it. Sasuke held her hand as she dragged him as best as she could, aiming for the exit. He only stopped her once, to pull on her shoes, and let her go on her merry way to (he assumed) the park.

Kiyo ran around with the other kids at the park for a while, as best as she could given that she still wasn't very good at running.

 **All**

Sakura turned the corner and nearly ran into Sasuke and Kiyo. Kiyo was toddling along tiredly, looking half-asleep.

"Oh hey Sakura-chan! Sasuke-kun. Kiyo-tan!"

It was a girl, one who looked suspiciously like Naruto. They apparently did know that blondes were pretty rare in Konoha, going by the darker hair, but the blonde combined with the darker skin and of course, bright orange dress, made it kinda obvious.

"Hey Naruto. Or are you using a different name right now?"

"Yeah, I think I'm going by Natsuko today. Thanks, Sakura-chan!"

"It's just common courtesy."

Sakura turned back to Sasuke and Kiyo. Sasuke looked fairly confused.

"Oh yeah, you're the loud blond one. I'd almost forgotten."

"Sasuke, we've been in the same class for two and a half years. Do you at least know _my_ name?"

"Yeah, you're… Sakura."

"And my last name?"

"...Hana?"

"It's Haruno."

"Hey, I got the first syllable right. That's more than I know of most other people in our class."

Natsuko laughed heartily. She either didn't know the way most girls would pretend to giggle cutely in front of boys, or she just didn't care. Natsuko wasn't much for societal expectations, but it was probably a mixture of both.

"Oh yeah, where are you guys headed?" Sakura asked.

"It's about time for Kiyo to take a nap, so I'm bringing her home right now."

"I'm gonna see if I can get an apartment cause my landlord kicked me out again. Generally if I'm in a henge I can get one, but I only have so much money… so I'm just trying to find a place with like, moderately less bedbugs."

Both Sakura and Sasuke looked somewhat confused. They knew that Naruto wasn't the best off, or at least Sakura did, but they didn't know that it was that bad. Wearing the same worn clothes all the time was one thing, but finding your own apartment at age 8 was different.

"Hey, uh… If you really need a place to stay, you can stay with me? Kiyo likes you and the compound is pretty empty…"

"I'd offer the same but I've already been pushing the limits on how much my parents can fail to notice, and a whole person is kinda hard to hide."

Natsuko started crying uncontrollably. Sakura hugged her, but Sasuke just stood awkwardly next to them. Neither of them were used to large bursts of emotion, but Sakura was at least socially conditioned to do something.

"Can I really?" Natsuko asked, wiping tears from her eyes, "I'll make it up to you though! I'll babysit Kiyo-tan n' everything!"

Upon hearing her name, Kiyo yawned and walked over to Natsuko and clung onto her leg like a limpet.

"Well, I guess that's settled. Bye Sasuke-kun, Natsuko-chan, Kiyo-chan!"

The three and Sakura parted ways and went home. They'd see if the living situation worked out… eventually.


	3. Chapter Three

**Sakura**

~:~

Sakura sighed and scrubbed at her face, hating the way that it reddened unpleasantly. It took so much effort to keep up appearances at school. Concealer to hide the bags under her eyes, foundation and color correcting to hide redness and discoloration, pink eyeshadow to fill in her brows because actual brow products only come in a limited range of colors. Mascara to darken her eyelashes, tinted lip gloss and blush to add color to her face. The following Sasuke around wasn't a hardship, as she genuinely liked him, but the rest was a pain.

She pulled her dress over her head, keeping the collar pulled away from her face to keep her makeup from smearing.

The dress was one that her mother had bought her once, on one of those days that she bothered to pretend to care about Sakura. Wine-red, with the standard white accents of the Haruno clan. She had several others in her closet for school, but she'd never wear them outside of that. The dresses were cute, but they tore easily, cost a lot, and were very impractical.

Following that, she sliced up an apple for a light breakfast, packed away the obento that she had made the night before into her bag, and headed out.

She passed by the Yamanaka flower shop on her way over, pausing slightly. It was always a bright spot in her walk to school, not only because it was full of greenery no matter the season. Sakura used to meet up with Ino in front of the store every morning and part from her there every afternoon.

She _had_ genuinely missed being friends with Ino, but they'd been growing apart for a while.

And anyway, Ino had been hanging around Hinata recently. It would be beneficial for Ino, both having a friend around and also the support of the Hyuuga heir in any later venture.

Or at least that's how Sakura would think about it. Ino was… nicer. Or at least more genuine in friendship attempts.

Which does say something about her relationship with Sasuke and Naruto, but she liked to think that that relationship was a genuine one. Sakura couldn't be cold-hearted all the time.

Not that she was exactly cold-hearted. Pragmatic? Yes. Scary? Sometimes. But she only really came off as cold-hearted to those who thought they knew her, but really didn't.

And Ino was one of those people now.

Sighing, she walked onwards, but decided to detour towards the Uchiha clan compound instead of heading straight for the Academy. It wouldn't do her any good to get stuck in a mood during school.

Luckily, having Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiyo around usually helped. But she regretted the fact that her relationship with Ino had turned so sour.

~:~

 **Sasuke**

~:~

It was strange, having Naruto around the house. Sasuke would go to get Kiyo up, only to find Naruto already getting her changed, or playing games with her, or making food to put in their lunches. Sasuke was still in charge of making meals, as Naruto wasn't very good at making anything more complicated than rice or instant ramen. Naruto could do snacks, though.

Luckily, Kiyo liked having Naruto around, so it wasn't a hardship or anything. Sasuke had put Naruto up in one of the abandoned rooms in the main house, near Sasuke and Kiyo's rooms. He had moved in quickly, scattering belongings around as if it were his own room, which it technically was.

All Sasuke bothered to pull together for breakfast was rice, miso soup, and some leftover salmon. Despite this, Naruto still shoveled everything into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in days. Sasuke frowned. First the worn clothes, then the landlord kicking him out, the crying, and now the possible starvation. It didn't seem like Naruto was getting his orphan stipend from the government.

And if he was, there was still something seriously wrong.

Sasuke frowned deeper, but that barely changed his resting expression and so no one noticed.

Looking over at Kiyo and Naruto, Sasuke made a mental note to pick out some clothes for Naruto. He would allow him to keep the orange for the time being, but that didn't mean that he couldn't have nicer clothing.

And it wouldn't hurt to present a more united front if the council called them in to ask about their living situation. Nosy bastards.

They headed out of the compound casually, with Naruto shrugging on his bag at the door.

They passed by Sakura on the way to school, slowing pace so that they matched up with her.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Sakura-chan!"

"Good morning! How've you two been?"

"We've been great! Did'ya know that Sasuke could cook? Cause I sure didn't!"

"I mean, it makes sense. He has to make food somehow." Sakura said with a grin, lightly jabbing Naruto in the ribs.

"But it's like, really good."

Naruto pulled Sasuke into a half-hug, holding tight even when he squirmed.

"Hn." Sasuke said grumpily, but he could feel heat rising on the back of his neck. It had been a long time since someone that he had actually cared about had showed him affection, excepting Kiyo.

It hadn't been anytime since Itachi, definitely.

The rest of the walk to the academy was spent pretending to ignore Sakura and Naruto chatting and squabbling behind him, all the while feeling more content than he had in years.

~:~

 **Naruto**

~:~

Naruto sprawled out onto one of the chairs in the classroom, grinning as Sakura and Sasuke sat more primly down on either side of him, Kiyo dragging a chair out for herself as well.

A couple people stared at them, as they didn't normally sit together, especially so comfortably.

They were all cut off from anything they might have said by the bell ringing, but no one actually stopped talking until Iruka-sensei came in.

The lesson started with a lecture on safety practices that Naruto mostly ignored, as the good stuff happened right after. They had weekly sparring sessions, after which they got to run through the obstacle course that was located behind the academy.

As soon as Iruka-sensei dismissed the class, Naruto burst out of his seat, dragging a less-than-enthused Sakura behind him, while Sasuke and Kiyo followed at a much more sedate pace.

They came to a rather abrupt stop in front of the circle that designated the sparring area.

"Hey Sasuke, whaddaya say 'bout sparring with me?"

"Sure… Naruto-kun."

Sakura gave them both a solid whack to the shoulder playfully, "So you're just going to make me find my own partner? What kinda friends are you?"

"C'mon Sakura-chan, you know that we've been raring for a good fight together for ages!"

"The last time we fought was last night."

"...Anyways, can't you just partner with, like, Ino?"

"She'll be with Hinata."

"Shikamaru?"

"Really? He's always with Chouji. Every single time."

"Kiba?"

"He's got that friend… Kazua or something? I don't know, I don't hang out with them."

While they were busy arguing about potential sparring partners, the rest of the class, as well as Iruka-sensei and a group of older students, had made their way over.

"Well, today will be a very special practice, as the teacher for class [insert year-letter here] had to leave early, so they will be joining you all in practice today," Iruka said, looking quite frazzled, "Feel free to ask your seniors for advice, but make sure to ask me before starting to spar."

The older students walked around, some partnering with students from their class.

One specific student, a Hyuuga, walked straight up to Sasuke, introduced himself as Hyuuga Neji, and claimed that he wanted to "test the so-called might of the Uchiha clan against the Hyuuga clan's techniques".

Sasuke was unimpressed, and Naruto was about to punch the boy for daring to try and take his partner when Sakura stepped in.

"I'm afraid that Sasuke already has a partner, but I'm free if you wouldn't mind." She asked sweetly, but Naruto could see the tension in her shoulders that made him uneasy.

Sakura was scary when she was mad, and he had a feeling that the Hyuuga was one step away from landing on her shit-list.

The boy scoffed, clearly dismissing her right off the bat. "Fate has already determined what the outcome of that match would be. A civilian child could never defeat one trained in the Gentle Fist. Especially not one with such ridiculous pink hair."

And that was the step.

Sakura's smile turned even more sickly sweet. "Then you wouldn't mind a quick spar as proof, would you? You could always spar with Sasuke after…"

Neji complied with obvious disinclination, following after her when she went to get Iruka-sensei.

Naruto looked back at Sasuke nervously. "Should we… follow?"

Sasuke nodded, looking mildly concerned as well. They walked over, following from a good distance behind the two.

Unfortunately, Iruka-sensei approved the match.

The two settled into stances at opposite edges of the circle after making the seal of confrontation. As the [watch sparring and add starting signal], Sakura charged at Neji, doing her best to get a hit on him while he dodged.

"As I said, this is a pointless exercise-" Neji was cut off by Sakura punching him straight in the face.

Sakura crossed her arms and scowled as Iruka-sensei escorted Neji out of the circle, who was clutching his bloody nose and glaring just as fervently.

"He deserved it," She whispered to Naruto later. He nodded along, but was still wary about the violence exerted.

Seemingly understanding what he was thinking, Sakura patted his shoulder and said, "We're ninja. We'll be shedding a lot more blood than that eventually, so you should probably get used to that."

She passed him by as he stood there stock-still, but he still ran to join her, Sasuke, and Kiyo walking home.

He'd have to think about that.

~:~

 **All**

~:~

Sakura seemed deep in thought as they walked home, and she asked Sasuke about it midway through their walk.

"Hey Sasuke-kun, do you happen to know any ways that I could get into shape? Because I've been mainly focusing on learning techniques, but several say that you need to be physically fit to deal with backlash and things," Sakura said, "But I also feel like I could have done… better somehow. Against Neji."

"Well, dance is pretty popular for fitness if you don't want to just practice taijutsu..."

"What kind'd you do?" Naruto asked curiously.

"...Ballet. Lots of Uchiha did it."

"Makes sense with all the bendiness 'n stuff. I did pole dancing, myself."

"Pole dancing? Where the hell did you learn that?"

"It wasn't like that, Sakura-chan! At least, mostly. Mitsuyu-neechan gave me some lessons when I stayed at the club and I was working as the assistant bartender because the landlord kicked me out again because he hates me and I needed a place to stay and Neechan let me stay if I paid rent but I didn't have enough money so she had me work-"

"Okay, so what kind of dance do you think I should do?", Sakura said, interrupting to save her sanity from trying to think about Naruto's childhood.

"If you're interested in both dance and taijutsu, you could try capoeira. It's a taijutsu style from Kumo, I think. You'd probably have to track down a taijutsu master for it, but it'd be good for you."

"And how would I go about finding a taijutsu master?"

"Ooh, I got one! His name's Maito Gai, and he's super weird but also super good at taijutsu! I can ask him for ya, Sakura-chan!"

"Thanks, Naruto. I guess I'll take you up on that offer," She hesitated, "But let's figure that out tomorrow."

"Sure thing!"

After a quick but awkward silence, they all headed home.


	4. Tri A Little Harder

**Sakura**

~:~

"Fuck!"

Sakura clenched her teeth and ran to the bathroom as fast as she could, kicking the door that was blocking her way in. She turned the shower on and plunged her left arm into the stream of water as soon as possible, trying to rid her skin of the sodium hydroxide that had spilled onto her arm.

She was trying a new way to dispose of... things, and lye was the easiest disposal method to get, being a common product used for soap-making. Unfortunately, it also burned one's skin, but that was the price to pay when breaking down bodies.

Looking down at the burn, she swore again, realizing that it would be hard to hide without some sort of arm-warmers or long gloves. Well, she probably needed some anyways. And Sakura could pick up an apron on the way.

She wrapped her arm with gauze from her medical kit carefully before pulling on a loose long-sleeve shirt so that she could hide it. Grabbing her wallet, which was starting to look quite sad (she'd have to "borrow" some more money from her mother soon), she left.

A thrift store would be best on her wallet, but a shinobi goods store would have better quality wares… Sakura waffled between the two for a while before deciding that she'd just have to make the best out of thrift store clothing and buy better materials once she was a genin and could afford it.

The closest thrift store had a small shinobi section that she gravitated towards, sorting through cheap thigh holsters and wraps to find the good stuff, things that civilians had picked up after battles or training sessions and sold to stores for some quick change.

Along with the gloves, she found a battered, but still usable utility belt, with several pouches hanging off of it.

It was brown leather, a bit on the dry side, but she could probably restore it without too much trouble.

Satisfied with her purchases, Sakura set off to find an apron that she could feasibly use to protect her body from chemical spills. Hopefully, when she was finally a shinobi she'd be able to use it to block blood spatter as well, as blood is such a pain to get out of fabric.

She couldn't find anything like that at the thrift store, so she stopped by the surplus store, which had a lot of barely used shinobi gear and things, especially since the Uchiha clan was brutally massacred.

Grim, yes, but they had a lot of clothing and weaponry that Sasuke had no use for, so he just donated as much as he could. The people that didn't care about wearing dead people's clothes got great deals.

After a while of searching, she found a lab apron that would work, despite the blood stains on the back. She could disinfect that.

It was Styrene-Butadiene coated, and as such, it would hold up to chemical spills, but it also had a few useful pockets.

Sakura got back home in time to pull her new additions to her outfits on and finish disposing of her experiment before Naruto got to her house. She was wearing sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt that was tied in the front, looking ready to exercise.

Shit.

~:~

 **Naruto**

~:~

"Hey Sakura-chan! You ready to go?" Naruto asked cheerfully, grinning widely.

When there wasn't a response, Naruto dropped her grin and looked at Sakura, who was frozen with a deer-in-headlights look on her face.

Looking her up and down, Naruto realized that Sakura probably hadn't remembered that she had agreed to go meet Gai-sensei with her.

Naruto rolled her eyes and pulled Sakura back up the stairs of her house, entering her bedroom and pulling some suitable workout clothes from her closet. Naruto turned her back and after a short moment heard the rustling of clothes being put on.

When she turned back around, Sakura was fully dressed in a red tank top, black shorts, and the black full-length gloves that she had on earlier. Satisfied, Naruto led her to the training ground where Gai-sensei said that he'd be.

Waiting for them was not only Gai-sensei but Lee as well, who was waving vigorously at them. Naruto flushed slightly, to Sakura's great amusement.

"Do you have a crush or something?" She whispered teasingly.

Instead of answering, Naruto smacked her on the back of the head, which was apparently answer enough if Sakura's giggling was any clue.

Naruto just hadn't expected Lee to be there, even though he had been the one to introduce them. It wasn't as if she had a crush or anything, and even if she did, she had already decided that she'd only date when she was at least a chunin. Not that it mattered or anything, because she _didn't_ have a crush.

Ignoring her as best as she could, Naruto sped up her pace, reaching the two spandex-clad people.

"Yosh! We will start off with basic stamina training, to boost your Youthful Vigour!"

Lee fist-pumped the air in excitement, making Sakura and Naruto shudder apprehensively.

Apparently, Gai's idea of "basic stamina training" was a lap around the entire perimeter of the village. Of course, there was a few minutes worth of stretching beforehand, but that was still too much running for the average shinobi trainee.

They set out running, not even bothering to keep pace with Lee and Gai-sensei. Sakura did her best, but she began lagging even further behind at around the five-minute mark. Naruto could keep going forever, albeit not very fast,

He took pity on the two of them eventually (more for Sakura's sake than Naruto's) and let them take a short break before continuing onto the lesson.

Gai-sensei seemed more serious when teaching than any time else, at least when it was important.

"The first basic move that most beginners start off on is the ginga, the squat/lunge hybrid that is the foundational footwork of capoeira."

Gai-sensei demonstrated it, lowering himself into a lunge, holding an arm in front of his face, before stepping out with his back leg and switching the positions of his arms and legs.

Sakura dutifully got into the stance, and Naruto followed along. It wasn't as if she was the one that really needed the flexibility training and everything, but learning new skills is always a good thing, especially if it could help her own fighting.

Any sort of structure would be an improvement to her fighting style, as all she really had was sloppy brawling with the occasional bit of flexibility shining through.

They practiced the stances, movements, and kicks for hours, interspersed with strength training and stretching to stop them from settling too much into the routine and getting sloppy with their footwork.

It seemed that Gai-sensei (and more recently, Lee as well) weren't completely insane when they shouted continuously while training.

Well, they were, but less so than they could have been.

Once the two (and Lee, who was practicing alongside them) had gotten the moves down fairly well, the end of the session was called.

Gai-sensei handed them both a pair of ankle weights, the nice ones that you put chakra in to adjust the weight. He grinned broadly and started openly bawling when Naruto barrelled into him with a hug. Sakura and Lee joined in as well, Sakura in gratitude but still hesitant and Lee barrelling with the same energy that Naruto had.

He hadn't gotten a gift, he was just very enthusiastic about the prospect of group hugs.

Sweaty but grinning and satisfied, Naruto and Sakura left the training grounds, stopping quickly at a shop that sold cold desserts to cool down a bit.

Soon after, Naruto and Sakura split ways, off to go home and take a nice cool shower.

It was a good day.

~:~

 **Sasuke**

~:~

"The first thing that you'll need to know is posture. Naruto's already experienced with dance, so she might do better. And Kiyo can only do so much at her age."

Sasuke surveyed his students, a giggling toddler and a giggling teenager with the maturity of a toddler, both wearing matching pink leotards and tutus. He sighed, but went on teaching.

"Keep your neck high," He said, pulling Naruto's head up by her ponytail and grinning smugly when she glared at him "Then drop your shoulders down. Like… there's a balloon tied to your head and bricks on your shoulders."

Naruto did as he said, but Kiyo required a little bit of straightening, especially as he moved onto the next step. He used a hand to pull up from Kiyo's back and straighten her head, and then had the two of them pull their shoulders up, back and down.

Seeing that she at least mostly understood what to do, Sasuke let Naruto start attempting the first position, while he continued helping Kiyo.

It was a simple matter of getting her to push her stomach up towards her ribs and keep her tailbone down, or it would have been if Kiyo hadn't been so unfortunately ticklish.

It took even longer to calm her down because Naruto immediately pounced on his little sister and started tickling her in earnest, so Sasuke just sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands in mock dissapointment.

When they finally got back on track,

"First position."

Kiyo did her best, pulling her feet back and out to her sides, but she struggled with the fine motor control necessary to do it properly.

She pouted, but Sasuke just laughed and scooped her up on his shoulder grunting slightly in surprise at the unexpected weight.

"You're getting big, but you're not yet big enough to do some of these things."

"When am I going to be big enough?"

"The same time that I'll start teaching you weaponry."

"And when's that?"

"That's for me to know, and you to find out later," He said, a bittersweet smile on his face, "Wouldn't want you growing up too fast."


	5. Triple The Effort

**Sakura**

~:~

Sakura tries to avoid the… shadier areas of Konoha as best as she can. It's never really safe for a little girl to wander alone, but it's always worse in those parts.

But when she needed things that you couldn't buy anywhere else, she really had no other choice.

Sakura had recently run out of some of her stash of less-than-legal drugs, and the only way to get them was through less-than-legal means.

In other words, finding a dealer that would sell to kids.

The finding of one wasn't the hard part. Many of those who were unfortunate enough to resort to selling drugs in the slums had given up at least most of their moral arguments against leading kids down a path of misery at some point.

No, the hard part was getting out alive and unhurt.

Sakura had wrapped a dark scarf around her head, covering the shock of pink hair that made her stand out more than she'd like. She had dressed down, looking to go unnoticed as best as possible despite being a tiny child in the streets.

To be fair, she wouldn't be the only one out there. There were plenty of orphans that spent their time away from the orphanage, often getting jobs just to get out of the system earlier.

Entering the academy was the most common way out, but for the ones without enough skill to make it through, finding a source of income was even more important.

Making her way to the hole-in-the-wall bar somewhat infamous for its lack of respect for certain laws, Sakura took a deep breath and pulled her shoulders back. It wouldn't do to look like fresh meat in a place like this.

The sign hanging over the awning proclaimed it to be "The Lusty Samurai"

She took a seat at the bar, all the way to the far side, as to be able to view the entirety of the dreary room.

In the corner, nursing a warm glass, was her target. Yanagisawa Aida, 26 years old. A low level drug runner for one of the gangs that operate in the slums. Not one to ask questions.

Getting the gangs involved in anything wasn't exactly smart, but the specific gang she was after happened to be one of the only suppliers of the drug she was searching for in the area.

Simply walking right up to him was far too dangerous, so Sakura waited for him to get up and meander out the door. She slipped out behind him, cornering him in the narrow, stinking alley next to the bar.

"I need some Phencyclidine."

"What?"

"PCP. Angel dust. Whatever you call it."

"Yeah, I got that. Hey, aren't you a little young to be buying?"

"Like you haven't seen this before."

The man let out a small laugh, and Sakura shot him a quick, humorless smile. She wasn't here for conversation.

They made the exchange and Sakura retreated further into the alley, making sure to check her spoils before leaving. It was bad business to give out faulty product, but she had been scammed before.

She was too engrossed in her examination to notice the man sneaking up behind her until he snaked a hand over her mouth.

A normal civillian child would have been incapable of fighting back.

Hell, even an academy student would struggle.

But Sakura was smart, and Sakura was resourceful, and most of all, Sakura was desperate.

He's bigger than her but she kicks backwards until her heel catches on his leg, flinging him off and spinning around.

She sweeps his legs out from under him, stomping his knee in for good measure.

Another girl would have probably left the man like that and ran. But Sakura was always too bloodthirsty for her own good.

She had brought a knife just in case, to keep her safe if needed. And now she drove it into the man's eye socket as deep as she could, disgusted yet reveling in the feeling as his eyeball squelched as it was pierced through.

Sakura stumbled off of the slowly cooling corpse, a mixture of adrenaline and panic running through her veins.

So focused was she on leaving the alleyway behind that she didn't notice the masked figure lingering on the roof above before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

As she slowly made her way out of the district, eyes flicking from side to side shiftily, she accidentally bumped shoulders with someone.

Sakura grunted out a quick "Sorry", trying to speed away without attracting any more attention.

"Hey, you're… Sakura, right?"

Her eyes widened and she flinched, fully prepared to be caught and taken to prison at a moment's notice.

The other girl chattered on, "You're the one that beat Neji-" until she caught a good glimpse of Sakura.

Her face grew solemn as she took in the involuntarily shivering of the younger girl's body, especially that of the hand still clutching the knife that was partially covered in brain matter and eye goop. Sakura's jacket and pants were irreparably stained with splatters of blood, but it wasn't extremely noticable on the black fabric.

"Where's the body."

"What?!" Sakura exclaimed, glancing around to make sure no one had heard the other girl's query.

"Oh sorry, where are my manners!" the other girl exclaimed, seeming genuinely apologetic, "I'm Tenten, I'm in class 3-B. I'll help you hide the body. You're Naruto's friend, aren't you?"

Overwhelmed by all this new information, Sakura just nodded meekly and led Tenten back to the alley where she left the body.

Tenten knelt down next to the dead man and pulled out a scroll from her bag. "I'll just seal him away for now, and dump him later. That way it'll be harder to date the body if it's discovered. This scroll is meant for food storage, so it has a stasis seal just as good as the ones for bodies."

The older girl packed the body up and away before turning and grinning cheerfully at Sakura. "We should probably get you cleaned up, I'll take you to my apartment!"

Sakura numbly followed her to the apartment, not speaking until she was already sequestered in the small bathroom of Tenten's apartment, letting the other girl wash her hair free of blood.

She watched the pink-dyed rivulets of water roll down her calves.

"How did you know…" she hesitated, not wanting to insult her host, who also happened to be very good at disposing of bodies.

"How'd I know what to do with the body?" she said, more casually than Sakura felt she had a right to, "I'm an orphan."

Konoha was known as the 'nice village', but being nice doesn't get you the spot as the top ranking hidden village. Because while on the surface it was nice and shiny, one look at the darker underbelly would tell you different.

The orphans of Konoha were the expendable ones, and if they were useful, or pretty, or strong, they were put into service for the greater good of Konoha (and its reputation).

She didn't like to think about it.

"You're friends with Naru-chan right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'll drop you off at his new place. You don't want to be walking home at this hour."

~:~

 **Naruto**

~:~

There was a firm knock on the door.

"Don't worry, I'll get it!" Naruto shouted across the house to Sasuke and Kiyo-tan. He made his way to the front door quickly, as anyone who bothered to come into the compound and knock likely had big news.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on whatever the hypothetical news was, instead of a cold and detached ANBU member delivering news, it was Tenten and Sakura, still dripping from a shower.

He hadn't seen Tenten in a while, but she didn't look like some of the other orphans had. That dead look in their eyes sometimes haunted his nightmares, but she looked alright, if tired.

"What are you two doing here?"

Tenten hesitated before recalling, "Remember that first time you stepped on a beetle?"

It was a code of theirs. Not a very complex one, but it worked.

If she had followed it up with an anecdote about trying to save it, or bringing it to the hospital, and whether or not it had survived, it would mean something different. And the specification of a beetle meant that it related to body disposal.

After all, it was Kabuto-nii who taught them that, and they had decided that likening him to a beetle of a similar name was easier than dropping helmets into casual conversation.

Tenten gestured to Sakura at her side, who was looking more despondent than normal.

Thinking quickly, Naruto put some soup on the stove and sat Sakura down on the couch with a thick blanket wrapped around her. He sent Sasuke and Kiyo over to keep Sakura's mind off of whatever happened and went to have a chat with Tenten.

"What the hell happened?"

"I found her wandering in the Akasen shaking and bloody. She killed a guy outside of a bar, and I think it might have been her first."

Naruto winced. First kills were never a good thing for most people, especially not for civillians.

"She'll be fine. It had to happen at some point if she wants to be a shinobi."

"True… I just wish that she was able to enjoy her childhood."

"We couldn't. Why should she?"

"You're doing alright, right? You know you can stay with us if you need."

"Nah, if I get too close to you two, my value goes up. I've managed to make myself invaluable to assassinations, so I get even less honeypots. I'm fine."

Naruto frowned sadly, but continued to putter around the house doing chores as they were at least something he could do something about, unlike the exploitation of orphans.

He had never had to go on the same sort of missions for some reason, possibly due to the fact that the Sandaime seemed to like him.

"I'm going to be Hokage someday," Naruto faced Tenten with a determined look in his eye, "And I'll fix this. I'll fix it all."

~:~

 **Sasuke**

~:~

Sasuke strode up to the wide building, putting on a smirk to hide his nerves. His father had been gone for years, but the remainders of his lectures remained.

i _Uchihas don't become medics._ /i

"Welcome to Konoha General Hospital, how may I help you?" said the bored-looking secretary, too busy filling out forms to look up.

"I- I'm interested in taking an internship for medical ninjutsu."

"There's a form over on the side table over there," she said, gesturing vaguely to a table covered in stacks of pamphlets, "Just fill it out and hand it to me when you're done."

Sasuke picked up the form and filling out as many details as he could before standing up and walking back up to the desk.

"What should I put if I don't have a parent or guardian to sign?"

The woman's brow furrowed and she looked up, but cut herself off when she caught a good look at him. "I guess you could get a signature from anyone that's the head of an organization, or your therapist. Whatever works, you just need a signature from an adult to confirm that you're of decent mental and physical health."

Sasuke's mouth twisted. He had stopped going to his therapist as much as he had right after that night, and he didn't want to have to sit through another counseling session just to get checked off.

He could just go to the headquarters of one of the many divisions and get a signature.

Intelligence was right out, as they were always… weird about him, as were the Counter-Terrorism Division. It probably had something to do with Itachi. Communications and Logistics were fine, but that was a long walk, and it wasn't like he wanted to bother the head of the hospital for a signature for an internship. That seemed like a set up for failure.

Which left him with T&I. The building was only a couple blocks away, anyway.

The T&I building had a much different air to it. Unlike the clean, bright atmosphere that the hospital had, the building felt dark and foreboding despite not actually being much different in looks.

The receptionist was a chunin, a man with a bandage wrapped across his face that was lounging in the chair, feet up on his desk.

He looked over at Sasuke inquisitively.

"I'm here to see Morino-san? I'd like to ask him for his signature on something."

"And what is this 'something'? Nothing illegal, I hope."

Sasuke gave him a deadpan stare and didn't respond. The man didn't need to know, it wasn't any of his business.

The man chuckled again and waved his hand at the offices to the right. "Down the hall. The doors have plaques, you'll find it eventually."

Rather than asking for further instruction, Sasuke decided to just find the door the way the man told him to. It wasn't as if it would take too long to find the head of the entire department, right?

Wrong.

The department was a maze, full of twisting corridors and shadowy passages.

Sasuke had already spent five minutes searching by the time he came upon another person, who he hoped would be nice enough to actually direct him to his destination. But before he could ask, he was rudely interrupted.

"We got fresh meat?" She asked, snatching the back of his collar and hoisting him up to her eye level, "Nah, you look kinda young. I should take you to Ibiki, he'd know what to do with you."

"Please do. I need his signature." Sasuke said, dropping from her grip and straightening out, brushing some imaginary dirt from his person.

The woman laughed out loud, pulling Sasuke into a headlock and dragging him to what was hopefully Morino Ibiki's office.

"Put me down!"

"Nah, kid." She smirked, adding in a noogie just to spite him, "You're the Uchiha kid, right? Means someone has to keep you humble, can't have you getting that big ego like all the rest of them."

She dropped him down in front of a door that did, in fact, have a plaque reading Morino Ibiki. Immediately after, she began to leave in the opposite direction, getting on with her day.

He spun around and called after her, "Hey, who even are you?"

She looked over her shoulder with a grin. "The name's Mitarashi Anko, kid. Remember it."

Sasuke would. He watched her go before turning back around and knocking on the door. The knocking rang out in the quiet building. They must have good soundproofing.

"Come in."

Sasuke twisted the door handle and eased the heavy wooden door open. Inside was an imposing man, tall and scarred with a dark bandana wrapped around his head. Sasuke had heard rumors about what was underneath, and the consensus generally hadn't been pretty.

"What do you need, kid, I'm busy here." Morino-san growled out, eyes fixed on his paperwork.

"This is probably an odd request, but can you sign off on this? I don't have a guardian to sign off so I need the signature of someone in charge, and… that's you."

Morino-san's eyes raised, along with his eyebrows.

Sasuke placed the form on his desk, letting the man pick it up and inspect the contents.

"Trying to become an iryo-nin, huh." He murmured, signing the form only after scrutinizing Sasuke a bit more.

Sasuke took the form back and headed out, somehow finding it much easier to find the exit than it was to find his way inside. The chunin at the desk smirked at him on his way out, but Sasuke was more focused on getting back to the hospital.

When he handed the papers to the secretary, she flipped over to the parent signature section. "Getting the head of T&I to sign a paper for you? Balsy."

He just shrugged.

The secretary let him leave after letting him know that his internship would be reviewed and they would let him know his results by the next Friday.

This was only the first of many steps that he'd take in order to ensure the safety of his sister. But it marked the beginning of something that would change everything he knew.


End file.
